Past Exhibition

Arcimboldo, 1526–1593: Nature and Fantasy

In this vertical painting, a tree trunk, branches, plants, fruit, and flowers are arranged to create the head, neck, and chest of an old person, like a portrait. The face and shoulders are angled to our left against a black background. The ash-brown tree trunk is the head with stumps to represent the long, bulbous nose, protruding chin, and ear. The eyes and mouth are sunken in deep shadow. Smaller bumps and the rough texture of the bark of the skin resembles warts or other imperfections. Flax-yellow moss or fungi grows on the chin and head, creating the impression of short hair. Branches grow up from the top of the head like antlers or a tall crown. On our left, green and purple grapes sit among the branches and stumps on the head while red apples and pears sit on our right. Ivy grows up on branch behind the apples. Two red cherries dangle from the small stub of the ear we can see. Pale pink, red, and white flowers on the chest make a garment. Sheaves of wheat hang down from branches protruding from the neck over the flowers. The artist signed the painting with black letters where bark has peeled away from a branch to our upper right, "ARCIMBOLDUS F."
Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Four Seasons in One Head, c. 1590, oil on panel, Paul Mellon Fund, 2010.77.1

Details

  • Dates

    -

  • Locations

    East Building, Mezzanine
In this vertical painting, a tree trunk, branches, plants, fruit, and flowers are arranged to create the head, neck, and chest of an old person, like a portrait. The face and shoulders are angled to our left against a black background. The ash-brown tree trunk is the head with stumps to represent the long, bulbous nose, protruding chin, and ear. The eyes and mouth are sunken in deep shadow. Smaller bumps and the rough texture of the bark of the skin resembles warts or other imperfections. Flax-yellow moss or fungi grows on the chin and head, creating the impression of short hair. Branches grow up from the top of the head like antlers or a tall crown. On our left, green and purple grapes sit among the branches and stumps on the head while red apples and pears sit on our right. Ivy grows up on branch behind the apples. Two red cherries dangle from the small stub of the ear we can see. Pale pink, red, and white flowers on the chest make a garment. Sheaves of wheat hang down from branches protruding from the neck over the flowers. The artist signed the painting with black letters where bark has peeled away from a branch to our upper right, "ARCIMBOLDUS F."
Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Four Seasons in One Head, c. 1590, oil on panel, Paul Mellon Fund, 2010.77.1

Overview: 16 paintings of fantastic heads composed of animals, plants, and objects by 16th-century Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo were presented in this exhibition, the first time the works had been shown together in the United States. Included were Arcimboldo's painting Four Seasons in One Head from the collection of the National Gallery of Art, together with loans from the Kunsthistorishes Museum, Vienna, the Musée du Louvre, Paris, and other public and private collections in Europe and the United States. The presentation was selected from a 2008 exhibition at the Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, and the Kunsthistorishes Museum, Vienna. To suggest the context for the artist's work, the exhibition in Washington also included 30 prints, drawings, volumes, and sculptures by Arcimboldo's contemporaries, including drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Dürer, volumes illustrated by Joris Hoefnagel, and a helmet by Giovanni Paolo Negroli. The exhibition was part of ITALY@150, a series of activities in Washington, DC, and throughout the United States celebrating the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy.

A 15-foot-tall fiberglass sculpture by American artist Philip Haas, inspired by Arcimboldo's painting Winter, also was on view on the East Building Mezzanine in association with the installation. Following the exhibition in Washington, the fiberglass sculpture was scheduled to travel to the gardens of Versailles, the Palazzo Reale in Milan, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

On September 19 exhibition curator Sylvia Ferino-Pagden presented the lecture "Arcimboldo: Lombard Painter between Leonardo and Caravaggio," followed by a book signing of the catalog. A documentary film, Arcimboldo: Nature and Fantasy, produced by the National Gallery of Art, was presented in East Building auditoriums during the exhibition. A short version of the film was shown continuously within the installation. In November, special Sunday concerts offered music of Renaissance composers in honor of the exhibition.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Sylvia Ferino-Pagden, curator of Italian Renaissance painting, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, was curator. David Alan Brown, curator, and Gretchen Hirschauer, associate curator, department of Italian and Spanish paintings, National Gallery of Art, coordinated the exhibition in Washington.

Sponsor: The exhibition was made possible by Louisa and Robert Duemling. It was sponsored by Altria Group with additional support provided by The Exhibition Circle of the National Gallery of Art. The exhibition was supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. The film was made possible by the HRH Foundation.

Attendance: 133,753 (113 days)

Brochure: Arcimboldo, 1526–1593: Nature and Fantasy, by Sylvia Ferino-Pagden et al. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 2010.

Other Venues:

  • Palazzo Reale, Milan, 02/09/2011–05/22/2011

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